Mark Bray, a former Occupy Wall Street organizer, a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and the author of soon-to-be released Antifa: The Antifascist Handbook, cautions against the assumption that the loosely affiliated far-right groups coalescing under the alt-right banner are experiencing a surge in popularity in North America since Trump's election.

But even if such groups aren't currently an existential threat to American or Canadian society, that doesn't mean it's safe to ignore them, Bray argues.

Responding to a frequent contention that counter-demonstrations, especially if they involve physical altercations, serve as a rallying cry for the far right rather than a deterrent, Bray notes that far-right groups don't always go away on their own, and giving them an opportunity to organize and build a network can allow them to recruit and grow.

"Even when they don't get that large," he says, "they can be violent and can endanger people in the communities where they operate."

Far-right groups focused on opposing immigration, refugees or specific minorities, Bray says, can pose a threat to those communities, no matter how small the groups are.

There's hope, though. Bray says active early opposition, from blockading their marches to violent physical resistance, can stop the far right from growing into a formidable force and, indeed, has done it before.

Historical examples include the fight against the UK's National Front in the 1970s and 80s and Norway's neo-Nazi scene in the 90s.

Incidents like the recent murder of two people in Portland (apparently after they intervened to stop a man from hurling racist insults at women on a train) raise alarm bells for Muslims and anti-racist activists across North America, says Suraia Sahar of the Toronto-based Organizing Committee Against Islamophobia (OCAI), noting the growing level of anti-Muslim rhetoric in Canada.

OCAI was formed on relatively short notice with the help of other local groups representing immigrant and refugee communities. Their first counter-protest was at a March 4 rally at Nathan Phillips Square where the Canadian Coalition of Concerned Citizens (CCCC) demonstrators decried Iqra Khalid's private members' Bill M-103 and waved signs calling Islam the locus of all terrorism.

Ever since, OCAI has confronted the anti-Muslim rallies and protests at City Hall organized by CCCC on the first Saturday of every month.

Though the CCCC and far-right associates may not precisely fit the alt-right bill, in Canada there is a chapter of the Gavin McInnes-created Proud Boys in Toronto, not to mention self-described free speech advocate, U of T professor Jordan Peterson – and supporters of both have been spotted at CCCC rallies.

"When you look at [CCCC's] Facebook page and Facebook call-out," says Sarah Ali, another OCAI organizer, "their supporters… openly call for harassment of Muslims. Some were calling for physical altercations, some for deportations."

Although CCCC's Facebook page says the group "will never tolerate any bias, discrimination or violence against anyone based on their religion, gender, race and/or political preferences," it's also explicitly dedicated to the "protection and preservation of Canadian culture and the safety of the nation."

The tenor of supporters' posts makes it clear that they see some groups - namely refugees and Muslims - as a threat to Canada's "culture" and safety.

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Comments (12)

ex muslims

One of the CCCC's most outspoken leaders is a woman who is saudi and was born muslim. Many women like this find they're abused and flee for safety. Only to find that they're victim blamed in the west for telling their own true stories. Here if a priest or (the far more frequent) a government teacher abuses a student, there are processes to stop that. Church, State and Police are generally distinct. How does that work under a system that fuses politics, state force (army, police) and government into one thing? It may surprise you but having spoken with people in the middle east, many genuinely feel that democracy is an evil western construct and that authoritarianism better reflects their sacred texts. Yet our government seems to know who is and isn't a real muslim based on who aligns with our current laws. Could our politicians rank which sect is most to least Islamic? (Note that most sects will say the others are "not true" muslims.) Who is right? One has to look at the texts objectively but few bother to do so. And the laws are the most revealing about what "peace" and "human rights" really mean for many in that context. It is not the same as the western understanding. Proof? The Cairo Declaration. Why override the human rights declarations everyone else agreed on? Because they're not Islamic. But it's racist to think that respecting all religions should be higher priority than allowing one to use political violence. Really? The far right will remain weak and isolated—unless people lose faith in everything else. And you don't want that. It would be both a Nazi and an ISIS objective to create that kind of climate.

EW51 days ago

so..

Come here for the events page, not for the articles.... That's really what this site is good for. People are really informed about arts and "culture" here, but not so much on politics.

Firstly, there is no "alt-right" There are only informed and uninformed people. and then various degrees of..."passion". Just to touch on Antifa, there's a hypocritical organization if I ever met one. They are complete fascists. Its disgusting, and they are actually undermining the truth movement of the past 30 years. There is a information war being played out. And frankly, most people are just really misinformed and misguided. On top of that, there is no real leadership from our elected parties.

If you actually knew the playbook, you would cry.

We are all being set up and divided. Man against Wife, Race against Color, And Creed against ideologue. Divide and conquer plain and simple. How else do you control 7+ billion people. Good luck, you need it.

Middleman128 days ago

This is the sound of your echochamber

You scream Murder and you hear genocide back. Chasing ghosts. Antifa is a terrorist organization. ...you really wanna stop free speech...why ...can't people make their own mind of what they wanna believe..or you have to lay it down for them. Far right...what about Far left.

Andre129 days ago

Proud of Your Boy

Uhuru

Garret129 days ago

You're an idiot

Go back to the piss king and shrieking about cereal whilst being punched. "Proud boys" are an embarrassment to the west in every way whenever they appear.

Kyle116 days ago

Could a SJW please explain......

This guy, John Beaton, of whom I have never heard, his Facebook post, please explain precisely what he said that is statistically and factually incorrect?Do any of you actually bother to listen to former Muslims? Why not? You listen to former Scientologists. You believe them when they tell you what shit show it is. Why not listen to some former Muslims? It's pretty scary. There are lots of good causes to get behind, if that's your thing. Tons of really good immigrants that could use a hand here and there.How about getting the cops to stop shooting black guys who are holding a stapler or something?

BuckdeSystem130 days ago

Expecting an honest answer will be hard to come by.

But your point is valid. NOW ran a piece a while ago about an ex muslim and how she felt abandoned by the very people, progressives, that she thought she could rely on. It seems that ex muslims are viewed as pariahs by the so called progressives and other muslims Look at this juxtaposition. Aryan Hirsi Ali has to live with 24 hour security due to threats on her life because she speaks out against a religion she was part of. Progressives denigrate her. Majeed Nawaz, a former islamist, wants to reform islam and *gasp* has to live with threats on his life and he is put on the Southern Poverty Law Centre's list of "islamophobe"

No one is saying that all muslims are bad. But to refuse to cast the same critical eye on islam as we do other religions is foolish.

Mike129 days ago

Yup

My comment has been up for days now, and apparently, no one wants to bother to try to refute it. People hate it when once in a while, a left winger shows some actual street smarts.If there is a religion out there that is more anti-woman than Islam, I would be interested in knowing the name of it.

BuckdeSystem124 days ago

I agree with the author

There should be no space for hate speech and bigots to rally yet it is OFTEN done in mosques.

Proud Islamophobe 130 days ago

How about the hate speech given in mosques

Islamophobia is one thing...but why is there nothing done about the hate speech being spewed from many Mosques. Does it not count as hate speech, or are we too afraid to talk about it?Case in point. Local supermarket that mom has been frequenting for years, has recently changed ownership. Mom asks a question to the clerk, and is immediately called an Infidel, and told to go shop elsewhere to find her "non halal" food. At the bus stop mom says "Hi" and is again called an Infidel and told that "she is not one of them". Is this not a form of hate speech and bigotry? The community has changed from Southern European immigrants that had to adapt, integrate, and learn English. The newer members seem to be ghettoizing themselves. This will only increase friction from both

Mr. Eff129 days ago

Reread my post

Because that's what I said in a lot less words, dumbass.

Jonny torch 129 days ago

This has been the strategy in the UK

To focus on "Islamophobia" rather than Islamist violence. For example, they don't have the resources to go after a jihadi who appears in a documentary about jihadis, and they let in a guy who came in through Italy who had ISIS material on his phone and straight up told the Italians that he wanted to be a terrorist (this info was passed on to the UK authorities). They don't have the resources to deal with this, but they do seem to have the resources to constantly go after Tommy Robinson and the EDL. So how is that working out for them?

So is NOW just gonna be a mouthpiece for the Antifa losers like they are for BLM? Talk about pathetic. I don't see what's so terrifying about that screenshot from the Facebook page that you posted - I think what they have been preaching down at the Masjid mosque is much worse than that. Hey, how come NOW never reported on those extremist supplications from Masjid? They talked about the protests outside of it but they refused to talk about the kaffirphobia being preached within. Almost like they're ham-fistedly pushing an agenda here.

And is the joker who wrote this calling Peterson alt-right? Lol. You guys must hate his guts so bad.

Richie130 days ago

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